T20 BLAST PREVIEW: A squad packed full of talent with the bat will be desperate to reverse last year's fortunes, when a poor run at the back end of the campaign cost Kent a place in the last eight
Coach: Matt Walker
Captain: Sam Billings
Last season: 5th, South Division
Fixtures: August 27 – Hampshire (h, 2pm); August 29 – Middlesex (a, 2pm); September 1 – Surrey (h, 2pm); September 3 – Sussex (a, 2pm); September 5 – Essex (a, 2pm); September 12 – Sussex (h, 2pm); September 14 – Hampshire (a, 2pm); September 16 – Middlesex (h, 2pm); September 18 – Essex (h, 2pm); September 20 – Surrey (a, 1pm)
How did they do last year?
They should probably have qualified from their group, in all honesty. Having started strongly, a combination of poor form and weather meant that the Canterbury outfit won none of their last seven games.
Club captain Sam Billings was only fit for the final throes of the campaign, having suffered a shoulder injury early on in the season that ruled him out for the majority of the summer.
In Mohammad Nabi and Adam Milne, Kent had two of the circuit’s better overseas players; Nabi, a hugely popular figure at the club and one of the more sought-after allrounders on the global T20 conveyer belt, hit a rapid match-winning innings at the Kia Oval against Surrey in a rain-reduced game.
Milne, meanwhile, took 10 wickets in nine games, with Kolpak signing Hardus Viljoen also impressing. The South African fast bowler took 18 scalps in his 12 outings.
Who are their key players?
Sam Billings: The Kent wicketkeeper-captain is a fine white-ball cricketer and has already offered a reminder of his capabilities in an England shirt earlier this summer.
How successful Kent are in this year’s T20 Blast might in some way depend on how much of their skipper they are able to see. Billings is part of England’s squad for their T20I series against Pakistan, with Australia then touring for a white-ball series at the end of the summer.
Should he prove unavailable, he has two fine deputies with the gloves in red-ball wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson and Jordan Cox, who made a maiden double hundred in a Bob Willis Trophy clash with Sussex.
Alex Blake: Few in county cricket hit a longer ball than Alex Blake. In last year’s competition, his 204 runs came with a strike rate of 148.90 – a six every 11 balls, a four every 10. The left-hander signed a white-ball-only deal in January, with director of cricket Paul Downton musing at the time that the move could turn Blake into a regular match-winner.
“I'm excited that Alex has become our first white-ball only contracted domestic player,” he said. “He is already a brilliant striker of a cricket ball and an outstanding fielder. By focusing purely on his white ball game, we believe Alex can become a really consistent match-winner for Kent.”
Zak Crawley: England’s new No.3 will be back with Kent for the T20 Blast, assuming he isn’t handed a late call-up to the national white-ball setup. If nothing else, he will enter the competition in fine form on the back of a maiden Test double century.
He displayed in that innings a rare ability to hit all around the ground; last year, he featured in 12 Blast games for Kent – only Daniel Bell-Drummond scored more runs for the county. Crawley hit two half centuries, hitting 12 sixes in the process. A good Blast for the 22-year-old could get England thinking…
What are their strengths?
The engine room has been strengthened further with the signing this season of Jack Leaning from Yorkshire – a move of particular pertinence in the absence of their overseas signings. In the spin department, the signing of Hamidullah Qadri adds another option alongside Imran Qayyum.
Where might they have a weakness?
Alongside Billings, they will also lose Joe Denly to England duty, which would weaken any county side. It will be interesting to see how they opt to fill the void left by Viljoen and Milne, both of whom brought no shortage of pace to proceedings last year.
Chances of reaching Finals Day?
Even without their overseas cohort, Kent will back themselves. They should have reached the knockout stages last year but fell away late on.
Strongest team: Daniel Bell-Drummond, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Sam Billings, Heino Kuhn, Alex Blake, Jack Leaning, Grant Stewart, Fred Klaassen, Tim Groenewald, Imran Qayyum
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